


Opportunity Knocks

by sparklight



Series: A Pattern of Chaos and Entropy [4]
Category: Transformers (Dreamwave Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Introspection, M/M, Plug and Play Sex, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-17
Updated: 2013-11-17
Packaged: 2018-01-01 21:10:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1048605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparklight/pseuds/sparklight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was there, in the upper reaches of the stratosphere, that he took the decision to take the next step...</p><p>(A one-shot sequel that takes place immediately after Starscream and Jetfire's scene in the epilogue. There's not plot, only porn, because all plot has already happened - or is yet to happen.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Opportunity Knocks

  
_Come fly, come fly_   
_Follow your spark_   
_We have only one life_   
_So follow my_   
_Contrail's path_   


\- traditional aerial rhyme

### 

The planet may have been alien - more so for Jetfire than for Starscream, but a sky, different atmosphere and wind patterns or not, was still a sky. In a way, however, while they'd recently flown together by _necessity_ , this was something else altogether.

The wind preceded the clouds forming on the horizon, turning the dawn stark with the light to the east and growing shadows in the north-west that chased them southwards as they twirled in a spiral around each other, rising higher with every second. It wasn't out of _care_ for the multitude of commercial flights that flew at lower altitude that Starscream led them upwards, merely that it'd be annoying to have to spare attention to the human air traffic control.

Annoying, plus the fact that the Earth was turned into a colourful shifting blanket, the planet's curve visible, and the weather was nothing to worry about.

Starscream spun neatly around the larger jet, close enough their armour _nearly_ brushed, heat vibrating between them in that breath of a space. The sudden loss as Jetfire fell away long enough to roll around his axis and turn undercarriage up was nearly shocking - and then it was _back_ as he laid himself close and _held still_.

It was dangerous - or would be, the longer they stayed like this, searing through the blue, but for the moment it was a near-physical touch, with the tingling charge of their EM fields above that. 

This was not unfamiliar; it hadn't happened recently, but it certainly wasn't something they'd never done before. Starscream hadn't deigned to fly with the other aerials at the Academy before he and Jetfire had slowly gravitated towards each other, and it had been something of a learning experience, but it'd been something more than just a bonus that the air guardian could produce speeds similar to Starscream, as he didn't fly with any others.

::Rise with me.:: Jetfire was already pulling away, changing the level course for something more _upwards_ again, and Starscream huffed, the sneer more in his tone than any non-existent expression.

::Jetfire...:: He didn't like his limitations. He especially didn't like being _reminded_ of them, or having them tossed in his face. He couldn't break orbit, and he wasn't made for atmospheric re-entry, both of which Jetfire _was_. The pleasing fuzziness the static from the tension between their fields had produced as they flew close and the heat trapped between them like a strange caress from nosecone to engine nozzles, nearly evaporated at Jetfire's request.

And why was this _affecting him_ this way? The most annoying thing was that from this angle, he could recognise the feelings, things he'd attributed to merely being pleased to be able to match speed with someone back in the Academy, to have someone _tolerable_ to fly with - why was _he_ feeling like _this_ even if it was _Jetfire_?!

He knew why, of course, but _he_ should be above it, _beyond_ it, though it would be okay if _Jetfire_ felt like this---

::As far as you can.::

It was more the sight of Jetfire's lit engine nozzles than the tone of his voice that made Starscream huff static across the comm and burn his engines brighter, catching up as they rose through the atmosphere. The temperature stopped being even and started to fall with every second they climbed higher, and far to the north and east above them, flashes of blue and red could be seen - atmospheric lightning.

And then he couldn't go any further, his rise petering off no matter how he tried to fight it. With a frustrated roar of his engine, Starscream let gravity take it's course, momentarily cutting _everything_ and merely _falling_ as Jetfire rose further away - and then turned down.

Even braking as well as he could without stopping his fall, Jetfire would have to work harder to catch up...

::Catch me.:: Starscream would have smirked if he currently could have, but as soon as he was reasonably certain he _probably_ wouldn't injure himself, he lit his engines again, causing a momentary pausing jerk which allowed him to transform even if the heat of expanded armour and the cold around made it somewhat _tricky_.

He still persisted through the slight protest from his transformation cog and the connected cerebral cluster, stretching out and optics lighting up and then let himself fall again.

He'd done this once before, but that had been a long time ago, and while their relationship had... expanded... since then, between _then_ and _now_ so many other things had happened that trusting him with this was---

Starscream's scowl and the subsequent intended relighting of his engines were both lost in the roar of Jetfire passing him, the wind buffing him, not just slightly _braking_ but also disturbing his neat fall, but there was not enough time for the controlled descent to degenerate.

Because right then, he had an EM field flaring up behind him and _around_ , and the noise of him colliding with Jetfire rattled down into the deepest layers of his protoform. Both of them probably cracked a few things, but Starscream found he didn't care and tossed up an arm to curl his hand around Jetfire's helm as arms came up around him.

Perhaps...

"Starscream..."

"Yes?" He met Jetfire's frown with a smirk, helm leaned backwards to catch that expression and while Jetfire was looking somewhat pinched, his optics were bright.

"Wipe that smirk off your faceplate. That was---"

Not feeling like listening, Starscream yanked Jetfire's helm down and kissed him. The angle was a bit awkward and the energon and coolant lines in his throat were stretched taut against the slatted metal of his throat but exhilaration burned through him. Jetfire's mouth and lips were blazing hot against his, the metal of both their chassis and faceplates shifting as they cooled, the contrast sharp to the freezing air around them.

Jetfire's engine hummed in a deeper pitch behind his back as static electricity crackled along the inside of their mouths and one of Jetfire's hands curled around his cockpit, tracing out the curves of the metal bands and the armour glass.

Perhaps it was okay that Jetfire could make him... react with barely a touch or glance now that he apparently was incapable of ignoring those things. It was _Jetfire_ , after all. A single weakness like that might be all right. That decided, the next course of action seemed obvious - this _was_ an opportunity that might not present itself again, after all.

"Come with me. I know a better place."

The look Jetfire gave him as he extricated himself from the embrace held a question, and then when Starscream reached out and trailed his hand from Jetfire's chestplates above his spark chamber to down along the cockpit and then to his side, that look turned understanding. Snorting, Starscream drifted back and then dove, transforming as he went and utterly sure Jetfire would follow.

He hadn't _asked_ if he wanted to come with, he'd _told him to_.

Not that that would've made Jetfire come if he didn't feel like it, but that was beside the point, at least from _Starscream's_ point of view.

They tore downwards like two meteors, Jetfire having to brake some not to overtake the Seeker as they plummeted through layers of air, and then clouds, re-entering the atmospheric layers with actual weather before they broke through at low altitude and evened out. Mountains drenched in early winter sunlight contrasted sharply with the deep shadows of the canyons snaking through them.

Not the Sonic Canyons by far, but larger and deeper than the Grand Canyon, and Jetfire flicked his wings.

::A moment, Starscream.::

::Jetfire, so help me, _come back here_ \---!:: Starscream's yell over the comm went unheeded as the large jet dove, thrusters roaring, transforming as he went. Sunlight glittered off his white limbs, highlighted the flash of blue on his helm and ran down the red - and then he was swallowed by the shadows swamping the bottom of the canyon.

With a huff, Starscream made another circle above the mountains and the canyons, annoyed at the delay more than anything else - and while the display was always impressive, it also reminded him of all the times he'd had that subduing tactic of being slammed into the ground used on him.

Jetfire was all too enamoured of the method, but then, it _was_ one of the functions of the air guardians, even if Jetfire had never been involved in peace keeping.

Then the light flared on something bright, probably blinding any humans within visual distance of Jetfire, and the giant glitch rose up to meet him again, exploding out of the shadows. Starscream didn't wait for Jetfire to catch up, but rather tore off and then after another kilometer or so, dove downwards.

They wove among the rocks, along canyons and around cliffs until Starscream transformed and slowed down, landing on a ledge that seemed way too narrow and fragile to hold him. Jetfire stayed hovering in the air, eyeing the ledge doubtfully. It might hold for _Starscream_ , but Jetfire wondered how well it'd hold up under his weight, not just because he was taller and heavier, but due to the fact that he also had the boosters...

"Come on."

Jetfire let his arm be snagged and allowed Starscream to pull him in, not cutting his thrusters that kept him hovering until he was past the ledge and inside of the cave. He didn't feel like completely dispersing the gentle heat that still lingered from the flight and made his fingers tingle where Starscream was pulling him along from his weight crumbling the rock he stood on and startling them both, after all.

"How many of these do you have, anyway?" asked Jetfire as they walked further inside of the cave, the walls spotted with rhodochrosite which glinted in the sunlight reflected from the entrance and, perhaps ironically, made the space seem more familiar, more like home. Energon crystals didn't look the same as these, but the pink shade was almost similar enough. 

Along the walls were a few scattered boxes and on the opposite side of the cave, a workbench. Jetfire wouldn't have known to ask if he hadn't spotted some proof that Starscream must have had _some_ sort of base in the mountains around where Omega caught up to Starscream and Sunstorm.

It hadn't been more than a quick flash seen as he lifted off with Bumblebee to catch up with the Seeker and his clone, and he hadn't connected the details into an actual picture until now.

"Enough so I can work _undisturbed_ if needed," sniffed Starscream as he glanced back at Jetfire. "It was _impossible_ to get any proper work done while we had the desert base, _despite_ the fact that we were few! But then, Skywarp and the blasted scraplet twins Soundwave insists on taking along everywhere count for ten each." With a snort, Starscream whirled around, light falling from a crack somewhere to cast a pale halo of weak gold around his helm and following the curves of his intake vents and the angles of his wings.

Then Starscream paused there, a frown slowly stealing over his dark faceplate and while it wasn't helping Jetfire either, the hesitation was... endearing.

As much as Starscream could ever be _endearing_ anyway, and he could already see the tell-tale tightening around Starscream's optics and the grip on his hand as well that would lead to exasperated - or even offended - action instead of this momentary suspension.

So instead, Jetfire raised his other hand, followed the angle of Starscream's cheek with a fingertip, causing Starscream's frown to deepen, with just made Jetfire smile. Then out along the outline of the vent, and then rest on the shoulder, rubbing along the null-ray.

"I think it's safe to assume that neither of us is a protoform or lack enough knowledge to say we don't know how this works," said Jetfire with another smile as Starscream huffed, letting go of Jetfire's hand to drum his fingers against his cockpit.

"Humph. As if _I_ wouldn't know..." He didn't finish the thought and instead dragged a hand upwards, following the angles along the cockpit and the armour above it, to tug on edge where it ended. Jetfire snorted softly at the silent demand, but bent down and while there hadn't exactly been any _fumbling_ in those first touches, the kiss brought up remembered and lingering charge from the flight.

It bloomed outwards, carried on the static trapped in the thin, soft metal of their mouths and curled around the wires and circuits that cushioned their spark chambers, stripping the rest of the lingering hesitation. 

And then Starscream's hand banged into Jetfire's hip, the difference between _this_ frame and the _previous one_ just a shade to the side. At least when it came to Jetfire's hips, as he'd gained a head or so in height, so what Starscream _had_ been aiming for was actually the plating at his waist.

"And _why_ did you do... _this_?" With a huff, Starscream leaned back to mutter the words against Jetfire's lips, waving his hand at Jetfire before he laid it over the hip armour, thumb scraping along the angle and gap between hip and waist. "You were already big enough, and then you go and, what, add more mass and armour?"

Laughing, the vibrations tickling their lips, Jetfire rested their forehelms together while he ran a finger along the length of Starscream's back, from aft up to the joint where the nosecone connected at the back of Starscream's neck.

"Because it wasn't until much later that I _had to_." He met those red optics with his expression sober, though the upper edge of an optic quirked. "There was no need to even think of adding more armour or weapons before I left for the Autobots."

Starscream stared, optics narrowing as he shivered a little when Jetfire firmly rubbed the joint between nosecone and his back. Then he slowly tilted his helm without really unseating Jetfire's where it rested against his.

"True." With a smirk that was entirely too self-satisfied, Starscream nipped Jetfire's chinguard and then melded their mouths together again, working his fingers into the gaps of Jetfire's left hip to get at the joint, feeling static crackle underneath his fingertips.

There'd been no need for Jetfire to even _think_ of adjusting his altmode and frame for war, because Starscream had made sure he hadn't really had to participate in the battles. Prior to that, the only thing that Jetfire had met in the branding pits had been exactly that.

The branding, but none of the modifications. At the time, he hadn't really thought of the work he'd done to make sure that slipped past... unnoticed. Now? What did it matter, except insofar as it was obvious that the Autobots hadn't been able to afford the same... _protection_.

Not that Jetfire hadn't, or eventually wouldn't had ended up in some combat. It had, at the least, been minimal.

Jetfire hummed, setting the soft metal vibrating, thoroughly disrupting any further thoughts about anything that wasn't _here and now_. The sound didn't just thrum along the friction of their lips, but hit a particular note that tingled along the metal, reverberating outwards through sensor nets.

Standing up wouldn't do.

It seemed to be a thought that hit them both at the same time, as Starscream tugged on a wing at the same time as Jetfire's optics flickered around the cave - but it was merely a cave, and only minimally adjusted to be the working space Starscream set it up to be, not a place with a comfortable berth.

"Down." Murmuring it against Jetfire's lips and punctuating it with another tug that turned into stroking the metal of the wing and letting his finger slide along the bottom edge, Starscream made a pleased noise as Jetfire did go down, settling on the floor of the cave.

He didn't even protest when Jetfire rearranged him somewhat when he settled on top of a thigh, because there were more important things going on here. More important things like sliding palms over armour, turning the slight catches against wear and tear into friction into static charge. More important things like smirking against Jetfire's lips when he squeezed the hip joint between his fingers enough to make Jetfire squirm and make a noise somewhere between a protest and a groan.

More important things like giving Jetfire a glare right after the blasted glitch stopped stroking his wingtips like he knew what he was doing, _nevermind_ the way the pressure sent a burning thrill right down into his protoform and he wasn't going to _squirm_ \---

" _Starscream_..." It wasn't _quite_ a gasp as Jetfire broke the kiss, helm dropping back and optics flaring a little, as Starscream abandoned the outer side of the hip joint to slide his fingers around the edge of the hip, down between Jetfire's thighs and push on the _inside_ side, pressing the servo inside and the outer workings together.

Their cockpits ground together, tiny sparks and a low noise of protesting armourglass as Starscream smirked around a hum, optics flickering as Jetfire found one of the joints where his left wing joined with his back and _squeezed_.

This was _not enough_. Jetfire tilted his helm as their EM fields snapped against each other or slid inside alternately, and while the pressure was nice and the charge was slowly building, warming up his circuits... It wasn't enough. They'd known each other for long enough that, even if the war and everything else probably _should have_ snuffed out the trust, it really hadn't.

Not here and now, when there was no pressure of an outside situation to take into account on what Starscream might do.

This? While it might be new, it was in a way really _simple_ , and they were well beyond the stage where bare tactile interface and overload would build any appreciable trust.

Bending over just slightly, since with the way they were positioned, more wasn't really needed, Jetfire brushed his lips along the side of the shoulder vent there and then angled further, his teeth along the edge of the audial vent making Starscream twitch and the hand he was scraping along armour seams in Jetfire's back sharpen warningly.

Not a _bad_ warning though, and the friction set his pressure sensors humming.

"Would you want to.... er, take it a step..?" Trailing off, Jetfire shifted his hand off Starscream's right wing, stroking the palm along the expanse firmly enough sparks could be seen in its wake and Starscream grunted, optics narrowing as his engine revved. But whatever he might have said was lost as one of Jetfire's fingers stroked along Starscream's waist, poking at the angle between the chestplating of his turbines and the plating at his side, over the panel there.

There was a minimal pause, the red glow from Starscream's optics dimming momentarily... and then he pinched the inside of the hip joint he still had in his grasp, causing a flare of jagged sensation and charge both to spear along Jetfire's circuits and sensory net.

" _Yes_." Impatience suddenly snapped along Starscream's voice as if this had been an idea that Jetfire had been cutting his speed on, trailing behind instead of bringing it up first, and Jetfire managed to - barely - keep his amused smirk to himself.

It was a simple thing, to open those panels and slide the corresponding jacks in, connecting their building energy flow - the snap of the slightly different flows of charge merging at the connection and then spreading outwards, building, caused both of them to twitch, fingers tightening. A simple thing - if you knew each other. Few started out joining the flow of interface energy the first time they came together despite the fact that it wasn't overly invasive. It did, however, require more trust and familiarity than tactile did.

Tactile was simple, straightforward and required a minimal amount of trust and led to as satisfying an overload as anything else as all methods varied slightly. Any other method, however, required more than a _bare_ amount of trust.

But it didn't matter, because it wasn't like they would---

Straightening up even as he had to fight against the urge to slump over Starscream and just clutch him closer as the glittering charge tingled over circuits and the feeling of Starscream assaulting his joints, Jetfire nonetheless frowned down at the Seeker. The Seeker, who had his hand a shade behind where his cable plugged in, thumb stroking another panel.

"Starscream---"

"What? Afraid I'll _hurt you_?" Mocking challenge as Starscream tilted his helm, tapping the jack of a second cable he'd pulled out from beside the first against his lower lip.

That probably shouldn't make Jetfire's engine rev like it did, but it _did_.

::Self preservation, Starscream.:: Jetfire leaned down the bit needed to kiss the Seeker, not giving him the time to pull his hand away. Their lips slid against each other, and the jack, mouthing around it as Starscream hissed into Jetfire's mouth and then _twisted_ when Jetfire scraped his teeth over the sensitive metal connector. The charge between them ebbed, and then flared, warming circuits but not really threatening whiteout. Not yet. ::But... against better judgement, all right. _Don't_ make me regret it.::

"Yeah, yeah, sensory only." Despite the flippant tone as they parted and Starscream, hand shaking a little, slid the jack into the previously covered port, the glow from his optics was soft. Soft, then flickered out completely, and Jetfire shifted where he sat, feeling Starscream _inside_ , his imperious presence still waiting for the proper keys to be let in _deeper_.

It was a strange thing, the way Starscream's expression had smoothed out, with a slight frown disturbing the smooth metal of his faceplate, and Jetfire leaned forward to rest the front of his helm against one of Starscream's shoulder vents as he finally let Starscream past that first set of firewalls.

It was probably foolish.

It wasn't really _dangerous_ , not in a setting like a cave with a limited set of possible outside sensory inputs (so he'd be able to tell what was not caused by outside influence and what _was_ ) as he would only give Starscream access to what he experienced his physical surroundings with, and not deeper into his various sensory systems. But it _was_ probably---

Jetfire's stiffened and his huge hands tightened on Starscream's plating, making the Seeker gasp and press closer. Jetfire's wings twitched and then flicked down, a tremble running down the metal, plates shifting subtly as Starscream flexed his new control. 

Liquid lightning from a constant pressure that (impossibly) was tripping _every single_ sensory node he had, and some that usually weren't used except in particular instances as well bloomed over his sensory net and sunk into his protoform. This was---

"Still having _second thoughts_?" Starscream's hiss was laced with static as the charge they shared was suddenly burning down their circuitry, and yet he didn't loose control - instead flickers of sudden heat pierced through the pressure Jetfire was experiencing, even if it wasn't _actually_ a result of actual environmental input. 

It was still real, even if the input came from elsewhere.

"Given the---mng... number of negative outcomes you could inflict if you wished it, even with limited access, and taking into account all the evidence of you taking what... err, opportunity you have and the _skill_ with which you apply your plans, whether or not they succeed--- no." It ended on a super-sonic, static-crackling gasp as Starscream cut Jetfire's contact to his sensory net, and then, just as suddenly, turned it back on with a little snappy twist at the end, and only the fact that Jetfire was well-used to how much strength he could or could not used saved Starscream's wingtip from being crushed.

Instead the Seeker just groaned, his annoyance bleeding away into voiceless huffiness as he caught the edge of Jetfire's smirk and, in conjunction to bearing down on the inner edge of the hipjoint he still was stroking, briefly increased the pressure on Jetfire's sensory nodes, causing both of them to shudder as the charge flared up, twisting down their circuits like a wildfire.

Jetfire wasn't sure where Starscream had gotten the skill to do _this_ , though perhaps he was merely naturally talented, and he had a _thought_ , but as the crackling lightning warming his circuits rose up, fed both by itself as the charge passed between their systems and each other's hands on their plating and Starscream making his sensory net light up like he was standing in the middle of an electrical storm, the thought wasn't really finished.

All he had the _time_ to do was slide a hand between them and squeeze Starscream's cockpit, in time with the rhythmic and wave-like pressure on his sensory nodes and kiss Starscream - and the Seeker completely cheated and jacked the sensitivity up, but at the least, as the charge rose up, held barely on the edge and then tripped over, searing over their circuits, at least _both_ of them stiffened as the whiteout snapped over their systems.

Cascading reboot started quickly, with barely a moment of _nothing_ , and Jetfire found himself hunched over Starscream, mouthing a few words against Starscream's warm lips, the heel of his hand still pressing against Starscream's cockpit - which was slightly parted, though it snapped closed as Starscream shifted against him.

" _That_ is a protoform rhyme, a stupid one at that, and _I_ am not going to be following _anybody_ ," grumbled Starscream, aiming an angled, dim glare that lacked any heat beyond the lazy lassitude of newly overcharged systems as he slowly fingered around where his cables were plugged in and slid them out.

"Mmhm. Of course." Jetfire didn't bother shifting, and when he got his hand whacked away from pulling his own cables out, he simply rested his chin against Starscream's helm and laid his hands behind Starscream and on his crossed legs. Not quite an embrace, but not _not_ one. "You could always say it."

He couldn't quite keep his voice neutral at Starscream's explosive snort and chuckled as everything was tucked away.

"I'm quite sure you didn't let me deep in enough so that I could accidentally have poked about your processors to induce _that_ sort of gibbering nonsense." Grumbling, Starscream still didn't immediately extricate himself, rather slumping into Jetfire, their engines slowing down and metal cooling with pinging pops the only sounds for a few moments.

Nothing had really changed, and when the ceasefire was over... well, it might not go back to _precisely_ what it had been before, not for the factions, and definitely not for _them_ , but it would probably be close enough.

"If we win, I'll make sure you end up where you _should_ ," said Starscream suddenly, patting the thigh he wasn't sitting on and Jetfire snorted, optics flickering in a down-wards roll.

"Yes, thank you, Starscream." Sarcasm nearly drowned out Jetfire's tone, though Starscream's response was so overdone in its sincere innocence he almost laughed.

"You're _welcome_. It's not as if anyone else would know how to properly use you."

"I _would_ stop talking if I were you, Starscream." Jetfire huffed, threateningly shifting in his position, but not _quite_ unseating the Seeker, who met Jetfire's optics at an angle with a smirk - but didn't actually say anything and the cave fell silent again. 

The sunlight filtered down from the cracks and through the opening, creating little sparks of pink and casting pink reflections on the wall and the floor as their humming engines, slow vents and harmonised spark pulse, the latter only heard as a suggestion between them, became the only sounds for the moment.

From here forward, wherever that would turn out to be.


End file.
